1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technology of a spatial light modulation device which modulates light according to an image signal, a projector including the spatial light modulation device, and a cooling method for the spatial light modulation device.
2. Related Art
Recently, there is a demand for a projector capable of emitting light having high luminance, and the amount of heat generated from such a projector is increasing with rise of the amount of light supplied therefrom.
When the temperature inside the projector is high due to raised luminance and size reduction of the projector, life of optical elements such as liquid crystal panel and polarization plate becomes short. Currently, such a technology has been proposed which includes a structure for introducing cooling air generated for cooling a liquid crystal panel by a fan toward the surface of the liquid crystal panel (for example, see JP-A-2002-107698).
When air flows in parallel with the surface of the liquid crystal panel or the polarization plate, the flow of air on the surface of the liquid crystal panel or the polarization plate receives resistance due to viscosity of air. Thus, cooling effect provided by cooling air in the related art is only limited effect.